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Jack Nicholson in my opinion is the greatest actor I’ve ever seen, granted I haven’t watched all of his films, moreover, many of the ones I have saw have definitely solidified him as the greatest actor ever to me.
As of lately there’s been some controversy regarding Nicholson’s “groundhog” appearance as he hasn’t been seen for nearly 2 years in public and his fans are outraged because of the criticisms.
The list compiled is not in any order simply six of the best films I believe he’s ever made.
The Best Jack Nicholson Films…
Batman
A movie I rewatched a million times as a kid because the performances by Keaton and Nicholson were so great and mesmerizing it just stuck with you as a kid, they were so good,leaving generations of fans thankful we got the opportunity to appreciate it.
Nicholson’s portrayal of the Joker in the Tim Burton version is the most accurate out of all the live-action Jokers, dark, comedic, menacing, and enticing. Nicholson love this movie so much he even caught himself watching it at home two to three times a week.
“Ever dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight?”
The Shinning
Oh what irony, it took a sicko like Stephen King and an amazing director such as Stanley Kubrick to create an even crazier character (Jack Torrence) to bring out an incredible psycho of Jack Nicholson that has haunted audiences for decades since the movie release.
To get Jack Nicholson in the right agitated mood, he was fed only cheese sandwiches for two weeks, which he hates turned himself into the possessed homicidal maniac.
Jack Nicholson is wonderfully terrifying, while Shelly Duvall is terrified and was made miserable because Stanley Kubrick was an asshole to her, it all worked out though.
The Departed
The first time Jack Nicholson and Martin Scorsese team up is a masterpiece with an ending that nobody in their wildest dreams would see coming.
Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of mob boss Frank Costelloin the film is based off of real crime Boston boss Whitey Bulger.
The quick unpredictable wit that Nicolson’s character possesses is dark and sarcastic leaving you on the edge of your seat as you truly don’t know what can happen next.
Hoffa
I’m not sure why Jack Nicholson or the movie as a whole got so much criticism, but I thought that Jack played an amazing Jimmy Hoffa opposite Danny DeVito who just killed it in his role as director and as Bobby Ciaro, a strict Hoffa loyalist to the end.
Through my perception of history of how Jimmy Hoffa has been presented I think it’s clear that Jack Nicholson clearly nailed Hoffa’s personality.
The Martin Scorsese film ‘The Irishman‘ with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro certainly took a lot from this film it appears.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Arguably Nicholson’s masterpiece. Jack brought sanity and mental health to the screen like nobody before or since him with this film, with the exception of maybe Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Joker‘.
McMurphy (Nicholson) is clear that positivity and a good time is all he wants, but later finds out that there’s some type of psychological manipulation going on with everyone else who seems to be drugged up to the gills no thanks to Nurse Ratched.
His genius is that he allows you to know what he’s thinking with amazing facial expressions. Jack inspired the others in the asylum to gain courage and towards the end one finally did that. Nicholson knew that the film was going to be a success as he took a cut from the movie itself.
A Few Good Men
The movie was a play adaptation, written by Aaron Sorkin, about Hazing, the military and at what costs do you stop taking orders.
Jack did not need a huge role in this movie but he played the most important and crucial role of the film as Colonel Nathan Jessup, overshadowing every single actor in this film.
His amazing performance was on cue every single time in rehearsal according to the entire cast with his “You can’t handle this truth speech” which has been parodied over and over, all the credit goes to the performer himself.